Amalgamator and concentrator



Oct. 21 1924. 1,512,204, C. E. DCKENS i AMALGAMATOR AND cNcENTRAToR y 4 A 23, 1923' 3 Sheets-Sheet l C. E. DICKENS AMALGAMATOR AND coNcENTR-ATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 mm n. Tf.. N M R I A .a 3 2 9 l 3. 2 v. a M d a n.1 .l u

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raaeaa oa., ai, tesa GHARLESE. DICKENS, OF PLEASANT GARDEN, NORTE CAROLDV.

AMALGAMATOR AND CONCENTRATOR.

Application :filed May 23, 1923. Serial No. 640,996.-

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. DICKENs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pleasant Garden, in the count of Guilford and State of North Carolina, ave invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Amalgamators and Concentrators, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to amalgamators and concentrators for the purpose of amalgamating and concentrating minerals from sand, ores and other earthy substances and for the sifting and cleaning of sand, grit, gravel and clay.

The general object of the invention is to provide a very simple and practical apparatus of this character including a reciprocating table having rimes mounted thereon and having means at one end whereby the table may be raised to any desired inclination to the horizontal and means at the opposits end whereby the table may be recip-l rocated.

A further object is to provide means whereby fthe pulp or gangue may be taken oif and a bed of any1 desired thickness left upon the table.

A still further object is to so design the riiiies that every bit of the ore will be submitted to the action of the contact with the mercury covered plates which are disposed upon the table.

Another object is to provide riflies mounted upon the table which extend across the length of the table and which cause the pulp to pass transversely of the table in one direction and then transversely of the table in the opposite direction until the concentrates is finally discharged 'at the foot of the table.

Still another object is to provide means whereby the table may be so adjusted as to discharge at any desired elevation to thereby lift the water or lpulp at any desired depth on the table for any particular sands, oils, minerals or metals.

Other. objects will appear in the course of the following descrlptionf My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of a concentrating table constructed in accordance with my invention; f

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the discharge end of the concentrating table;

FigureB is a longitudinal sectional view through the table;

Figure 4: is al transverse section on the line 4&-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary section of the table 10 showing one of the water and sand outlet pipes and the stufiing box whereby it is held in adjusted position;

Figure 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the discharge end of the table;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of a concentrating table having riilles 'disposed in a slightly modified wa `The mechanism as 'illustrate in the accompanying drawings lincludes a platform or table 10 ofany suitable material but preferably of wood mounted upon suitable supports 11 disposed at any desired position beneath the table and supporting the table for sliding or reciprocating movement. These supports are mount-ed upon beams 12 which extend longitudinally of the table the full length thereof and these beams in turn may be supported by means of the sills y13. Mounted upon the sills 13 and extending upward therefrom are the bearings 14, and extending from these bearings are brackets 15 which support a transverse rod 16 which constitutes a pintle upon which the beams 12 are mounted for swinging movement in a vertical plane. By swinging these beams upward at their ends remote from the brack-v et 15, it is possible to slant the table at any desired degree of inclination, and for the purpose of raising the lower end of the table to any desired degree of inclination I provide a rock shaft 17, this rock shaft carrying the cams 18 which engage with rollers 19 mounted upon a transverse rod or shaft 20, this shaft in turn being mounted inthe QI-beams 12.

The shaft 17 is oscillated by means of a lever 21, and for the purpose of holding the shaft in any desired adjusted position and with the platform or table elevated to anyi desired height, I mount upon this shaft the gear wheel 22 and provide a locking pawl 23 operatively supported upon one of the beams 13 which is adapted to engage with the teeth of this gear wheel. It will be obvious now that by oscillating the shaft 17 the beams 12 and the table may be raised or lowered.

As before remarked, the table slides upon blocks or trough-like supports 11 so that the table may be given a reciprocating movement, and to this end the upper end of the table is connected by means of a link 24 to a lever 25 which is mounted upon a rock shaft 26 carried in bearings 27. This lever is pivoted at its upper end and extends downward below the link 24, the link being connected to this lever. Midway between the point of connection -of the link 24 to the levei` and the lower end of the lever the lever is formed with an outwardly projecting lug 28 carrying a roller 29 with which a cam 30 is adaptd to engage, this cam being rmounted upon the shaft 31. This shaft is the forward movement of the table suddenly so as to cause the gangue, pulp or other material upon the tabel to slide forward on the table. The table is urged forward so of three or more riffies 43 which extend straight across the table from end to end thereof. These riilles are preferably of iron or steel. Forward of this series of riilles 43 the table is formed with a series of iron ritiesv 44 which vare curved from end to end and which are curved toward the head end of the table. These bowed or curved riffies 44 terminate short of the side walls 45 of the table. Between each two of the curved riil'les 44v are disposed a pair of straight riflles 46 which extend from the side walls 45 in toward the middle of the table and for- -ward at an inclination, there being a space or steel and attached by any suitable means as to give this sudden blowagainst the bumper by means of coiled springs 37 which are connected to the beams 12 and to the table midway of its ends. It will be obvious now that as the cam 23 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, the lever 25 will be swung rearward, drawing the table rear-. ward, and then as the cam passes the roller 29 the springs 37 will cause the table to be suddenly moved forward until it strikes the stop. Of course, this movement is relatively slight under ordinary circumstances.

The table 10 may have any desired width and any desired length. It is formed at its upper end with a hopper 38 having a discharge outlet at its lower end discharging` onto the table.. lmmediately in front of the hopper the table is formed with a transversely extendingseries of bowl-shaped depressions 39. These are intended to have` mercury therein. and immediately in front i of these depressions the table is formed with a transverse series of elliptical depressions 40. llmmediately in front of these elliptical depressions the table is formed with a plurality of relatively wideand deep transverse grooves 41. All of these grooves or recesses are intended to have mercury therein. The pulp after leaving the feed box 38 passes into orv over these depressions and the mercury collects a large part of the gold.

From a point immediately in front of the last of the seriesof transverse grooves 41 to the end of the table, the table is covered with a copper plate 42 which is coated with a silver amalgam or with mercury, and extending over this copper plate are a series over the surface of the` silvered copper plate 42.

Disposed above the surface of the table and extending over the upper portion thereof is a water deflecting shield 49 mounted upon the sidewalls in any suitable manner and extending downward and forward at a slight slant. Extending through the table at any desired points are outlet pipes or nipples1 designated 50. These are so mounted in the table that they may be adjusted vertically. Thus, for instance, the table may be provided with a plurality of stuiing boxes 51 having packing through which the tube 50 maybe disposed, these stuffing boxes being held in place by bolts 51a carrying packing 511. By tightening up on the nuts and the screws 51a, the outer member of the stuffing box 'is forced against the packing, thus compressing the packing against the pipe 50 and holding it in position. The pipe 5() is to be adjusted to such height that it will prevent the passage of the concentrates overinto the discharge pipe but will permit the water and sand to pass over and to be discharged through the pipe. Each discharge pipe 50 is to be disposed slightly above the level of the upper faces of the riffies 44 and 46 and it will be obvious that each discharge pipe may be adjusted to any desired position.

llif) llf) T have illustrated a. lpair of these outlet y pipes disposed between each bowed riftle 44 and the corresponding pair of straight riffles 46 and on each side of a median longitudinal line but T do not wish to limit myself to this. Outlets of more or less the same character may also be disposed through the side walls of the table, as indicated at 52. The finely crushed ore or pulp to be concentrated becomes bedded on the table, due to the reciprocation of the table and its elevation at one end, and the thickness of this bed may be regulated by the adjustment of the Water and sand outlets 50.

.The water deflect-ing shield 49 extends from the feed trough 38 downward and forward relative to the table at a sli ht inclination andv I have illustrated the ateral outlets 52 as bein disposed immediately above this plate. Thls plate does not touch the upper ends of the outlet pipes 50 and the purpose of the plate is to permit-the water and sand which is carried backward in waves to run up this plateand be discharged through these outlets 52 wit-hout washing backward over the riles. At the lower end of the table there is a. transverse trough 53 toreceive the concentrates.

The lower end of the table is preferably upwardly inclined, as at 54, this upwardly inclined portion being covered with a layer 55 which is preferably of linoleum, though it might be made of other suitable materials, the upper surface of this inclined plane being rounded downward and forward, as illustrated in Figure 6. Disposed above this upwardly inclined portion of the table and adjacent its forward end is a water pipe 56 having discharge nozzles extending down ward and toward the head end of the table so that the Water discharged therefrom will wash backward down the table. The purpose of this construction is to prevent the sands and other relatively light matters from passing off the discharge end of the table and into the trough 53 and so as to fully separa-te the concentrates from these lighter particles of mattei'. The concentrates being heavy will be shifted up the inclined face of the linoleum 55 but the sands and like light matters will be forced backward by the wash of water from the pipe 56. Thus the concentrates which are carried into the trough 53 will be entirely free of light foreign part-icles.

In Figure 7, I have illustra-tedv a slightly different manner of disposing the riflles on the concentrating table. In this figure, l() designates the concentrating table, as heretofore, this tablex being covered with a copper plate 42 having a. coating o-f mercury thereon. The riftles 43 are arranged as previously described, but between these riflies 43 and the discharge end of the table there are riflies 57 which extend alternately from the opposite sidewalls of the table. Each riie 57 extends at an angle forward and laterally and terminates short of the opposite side ofthe table. Thus the material on the table is caused to take a circuitous course, passing entirely across the table in one direction, then entirely across the table in the opposite direction, etc., until eventually the material arrives at the gate or opening 58 between the two rilles 59. Immediately opposite this gate or opening there is a ritlie 60 which is inclined laterally in opposite directions like the curved i'iflles 54, and this riifle 60 discharges onto a pair of riflles 59 which define a gate 58, which in turn again discharges onto a second rile 60 by which the material is discharged laterally toward the sides of the table and then vdischarged into the trough 53. The discharge pipes 50 are disposed practically in the same manner as they are in .Figure l and perform, of course, the same function. In both Figures 1 and 7, the material on the table is caused to move transversely across the table first in one direction and -then in the other so that the material is submitted to the maX- imum action of the amalgamating plates. The purpose of the relatively large recesses 39 and 40 which have mercury therein is for the purpose of collecting nuggets and relatively large lumps of the precious metals, y

these recesses being so arranged that practically all of the pulp coming from the box 38 must pass over these recesses and the recesses 41 before it can pass onto t-he riled ,p

portion of the table,

1Where the table is to be used for separating the precious metals from other metals and for separating these metals from the sands, slime, ganglia etc., the lumps of the precious metals are collected first in the recesses 39 and 40, then in the transverse troughs or grooves 4l. The pulp after leaving the feed box passes over or through these recesses so that thus a large part of the gold is collected, these recesses eliminating the placing of mercury in the stamp mills` as commonly done, with consequent waste. After leaving these recesses the pulp passes onto the silver amalgamated copper plate 42 and over the iron riflies 43. This causes more of the gold to be collected by the plate 42 and by accumulation against the iron riffles due to-the oscillation of the table. After passing over the iron riiiies 43, .the pulp comes in contact with the first of the series of curved riftles 44 or such riffles as those shown in Figure 7. This causes the pulp to move laterally across the table alternatelyin opposite directions. The gold is caught and the concentrates continue to pass forward and medially through the gates 47. This action of separating the concentrates from the gold and of the sand and slime from the gold and from the concentrates is particularly effective by reason of the fact that thc forward end ofthe table is elevated so thatv the concentrates are carried up an inclined surface due to the oscillation of the table. The riflies constructed as shown in Figures l or 7 hold back the concentrates and gold, the gold coming in contact with the silver amalgam surface and beingcaught thereby, the concentrates banking up against the riffles and gradually Working along the table toward the discharge end thereof. These ritiles 44 and 46 cause any loose gold and the concentrates to travel the entire width of the table approximately five times or for the full number of riffles the table may have, thus giving every possible chance for the gold to be collected by the amalgam plate. rllhe precious metals will collect on the plate forming the surface of the table, the concentrates Will pass on down and collect in the trough 53, and the sand and water will pass oft' through the openings 50.

When the table is being used for the single purpose of amalgamating gold, the bottom outlets and the side outlets may be closed entirely, thus causing the pulp to discharge at the discharge end instead of through these outlets. This is particularly meant for placer orsurface gold washing. rllhe table is also capable of use for the concentration y of any minerals or metals and for this purpose the water and sands are allowe-d to escape through the waste o'r overow pipes 50 or through openings in the sides of the table l as the oscillation of the table concentrates the minerals on'the surface of the table and works it oft' at the elevated end.

l. A concentrator or amalgamator of the character described comprising a table having means whereby it may be supported at an inclination and means whereby it may be reciprocated, the surface of the table having a plurality of transversely curved rifdes, the concave sides of the riiiles extending toward the discharge end of the table and the lriflles terminating short of the side walls of the table, and intermediate pairs of Ur rifes extending transversely and forwardly from the side of the table and toward the middle thereof but spaced apart at their inner ends.

2. A concentrator and amalgamator of the character described comprising a table having depressions in the head end of the table adapted to hold mercury therein and transversely extending grooves adapted to hold mercury therein, the grooves extending from one side of the table to the other, the remainder of the table to the discharge end thereof being covered by a sheet of copper having thereon a silver amalgam or an equivalent surfacefthere being a series of transversely curved riftles disposed upon said sheet, the riiiies being inclined laterally toward the discharge end of the table and terminating short of the sides of the table, and pairs of rimes extending inward and forward from the sides of the table and resting upon the sheet, the inner ends of the last named rimes being spaced from each other.

3. A Vconcentrator or amalgamator of the character-described comprising a table having means whereby it may be supported at an inclination and means whereby it may be reciprocated, the surface ofthe table at the head end thereof having a transversely extending series of depressions adapted to be filled with mercury and beyond said depressions with a transverse series of grooves extending from side to side of the table and adapted to be filled with mercury, thatportion of the table between said grooves and the discharge end of `the table being covered with a sheet of copper having a silver amalgam thereon and having applied to said sheet a series 'of transversely extending curved riflies, the concave face of which confronts the discharge end of the table, the rifflcs terminating short of the sides of the table, and an intermediate series of riles extending inward and forward from the sides of the table but having their inner ends spaced from each other.

4. A concentrator or amalgamator of the character described comprising a table having means at one end whereb it may be raised or lowered to thereby adJust the table to any desired inclination and means whereby the table may be reciprocated, the surface of the table adjacent its head end being formed with a transverse series of depressions and forward of said depressions with a transverse' series of grooves extending to the sides of thetable, the table forward of said grooves having a sheet of copper olisposed thereon having silver amalgam applied thereto, and riiles extending transversely of the table, the ries being so formed as to cause the pulp to travel alternately toward the sides of the table and toward the middle of the table.

5. A mineral separating table of the character described having means whereby it may be reciprocated in ahorizontal plane, the surface of the table being provided with rimes, the table having vertically adjustable discharge pipes extending upward through the table, the upper ends of the discharge pipes being disposed above the tops ofthe rimes. y

6. A mineral separating table of the character described mounted for reciprocating motion in a horizontal plane, and means for reciprocating the table, discharge pipes extending upward through the table and projecting above the upper surface thereof, a

packing gland mounted upon the under face of the table and through which the discharge pipe extends, and means for adjusting the packing gland to hold the discharge pipe in adjusted position and prevent leakage around the discharge pipe.

7. A mineral separating table mounted for reciprocation and having means whereby it may be reciprocated, the upper surface ofthe discharge end of the table being upwardly inclined with relation to the remainder of the table, the table having res,

discharge pipes extending upward through the table and having their upper ends disposed above the tops of the riles, means for discharging Washing Water toward the head end of the table and located immediately above the inclined discharge end of the table, and means whereby the table may be supported at an inclination with its discharge end higher than the head end.

8. A mineral separating table of the character described mounted for reciprocation in a horizontal plane, a supporting frame supporting the table and pivotally supported at one end, means for raising that end of the supporting frame beneath the discharge end of the table `comprising a pair of cams mounted below the frame and disposed parallel to the direction of reciprocation of the table, a shaft common to both of said cams whereby they may be simultaneously rotated, and means for rotating said shaft, and rollers mounted upon the frame and resting upon the curved surfaces of the cams.

9. A mineral separating apparatus of the character described comprising a table mounted for reciprocation, means for reciprocating the table, means for supporting it with its discharge end higher than the head end, the surface of the table having riHes, and a shield extending from the head end of the table toward the discharge end and disposed slightly above the rifiies, the sides of the table having outlet openings disposed above the upper surface of the shield.

l0. A mineral separating apparatus comprising a table mounted for reciprocation, means for reciprocating the table, means for supporting it with its discharge end higherv than the head end, the surface of the table having rifiles, discharge pipes extending from the table and having their upper ends disposed sli htly above the riies, and a shield exten ing from the head end toward the discharge end at a slight inclination to the face of the table and disposed slightly above the riiiles to the upper ends of the discharge pipes, the sides of the table having outlet openings disposed above the upper surface of the shield.

l1. A mineral separating apparatus comprising a table mounted for reciprocation, means for reciprocating the table, means for supporting it at an inclination to the horizontal with its discharge end higher than the head end, the surface of the table having rifHes, the upper surface of the discharge end of the table being upwardly inclined at an inclination to the surface of the remainder of the table, discharge pipes extending through the bottom of the table and having their upper ends disposed slightly above the upper edges of the ritlles, and a shield extending from the head end toward the discharge end of the table at an inclination to the surface thereof and disposed slightly above the rilfles and the upper ends of the discharge pipe, the sides of the table having outlet openings disposed above the upper surface of the shield.

12. A mineral separating apparatus of the character described comprising a table mounted for reciprocation in a horizontal plane, means for reciprocating the table, and a sand deiiecting shield extending from the head end of the table toward the discharge end and disposed slightly above the surface of the table, the shield being inclined down ward toward the discharge end and the sides of the table abovethe shield having outlet openings. f

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature."

CHARLES E. DI-CKENS.

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